My First Turning

Ok so it’s not art, but it’s a first for me ;) I have need of a few knobs for a project I’m working on and thought I’d try using my drill press for this before picking up a bench top lathe, which I’d eventually like to do.

I always had interest in turning after seeing a few guys first hand, make some really beautiful stuff in the community shop I had access to a few years ago. I watched one guy for over an hour, turn intricate spindles for a staircase he was working on. They were all perfectly the same without using a pattern. He did use calipers and had the model placed on a shelf above the lathe so he could reference off of it.

So this morning I took a piece of maple, inserted a dowel on the center, trimmed it up on the bandsaw and set my drill press to turn at the highest RPMs. Then I used a few rasps and files to get this result. Seems the most difficult part for me was to get a nearly perfect sphere.

So I have a few questions and would like some suggestions. First, was the highest speed, 1750rpm, the best route to go? How do I repeat this to get them all the same size and with the same profile? LOL I know I guess I should expect “practice” as the response, but I would like some tips if there are any.

Well here’s my morning’s work of art :) The knob is about 1.5” in diameter and overall, 2.25” in length.

LOL well that is confirmation enough for me and at least there’s no straight lines ;) Actually it was fun to shape wood without the use of a fence, straight edge, or other guiding device. I harken back to one of your videos for that inspiration. It seemed very natural to scrub wood into shape. I’ll have to keep that mojo in my head – you know – get in the zone ;)